i3S, IPO-Porto and the biopharmaceutical company Phyzat recently signed the SIRNAC project agreement for the development of a new cancer therapy. With financial support from Norte 2020, and an overall investment of more than 900 thousand euros, the project will run over the next two years. The partners aim to develop a new drug based on interference RNA, validate new therapeutic targets, and adapt to oncology a technology developed at i3S for delivery of nucleic acids.

The participation of i3S focuses on the development of a new system of delivery of genetic oncoterapies using dendrimers, macromolecules capable of incorporating drugs that can be designed to deliver them to specific targets. Ana Paula Pêgo, who leads the team that developed this technology based on dendrimers for delivery of drugs for neuroregeneration highlights that "this technology also has a lot of potential as an alternative drug delivery system in other therapeutic strategies, such as cancer".

The lead researcher for the project says that her group "has long focused on the development of these nanocarriers with properties ideal for carrying nucleic acids, such as interference RNA". On the other hand, genetic therapies for cancer still need an ideal vehicle to deliver nucleic acids specifically to cancer cells. This is why the partnership between the research developed in i3S and Phyzat is the perfect match.

Paulo Osswald, CFO of the project's biopharmaceutical company, explains that "Phyzat has some programs to develop genetic therapies against cancer and degenerative diseases, and this dendrimers technology, of which i3S is the owner, presents great potential to complement our work".

At IPO-Porto the project is led by the Coordinator of the Group of Molecular Oncology and Viral Pathology, Rui Medeiros, with the collaboration of the Department of Gastroenterology and Pathological Anatomy. IPO-Porto, as the largest cancer institution in the country, stresses this specialist, "has reached through Molecular Oncology and its Research Center (CI-IPOP) a leading role in research and identification of molecular biomarkers with significant prognostic / predictive power. This research line has made it possible to develop precision medicine and to achieve an improvement and personalization of anti-neoplastic treatments, which results in a positive impact on the clinical evolution of the patient". This project, in conjunction with i3S and Phyzat, adds Rui Medeiros, "is sure to strengthen the research and development of new genetic therapies against cancer".

This agreement between IPO, Phyzat and i3S is a clear example of the collaborative translational research that the three entities are heavily committed to developing.